The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is a fixture in our community and stands as the city’s oldest fine arts institution. Today, the museum hosts an impressive permanent collection of almost 40,000 objects. The collection, noted for its extraordinary strengths in French and American art, photography, glass, and African and Japanese art, continues to expand and grow, making NOMA one of the top art museums in the South.

Palate New Orleans had the extreme distinction in designing and executing an entire dinner based on a painting in the permanent collection of NOMA: Odd Nerdrum’s, “Five Persons around Water Hole”.

Nerdrum was born in Oslo, Norway and studied traditional classical painting in the Art Academy of Oslo. He began to teach himself how to paint in a classical manner, putting himself in direct opposition to the art of his native Norway. Nerdrum devised a method of painting of mixing and grinding his own pigments, stretching his canvas and the working from live models. He had his first one-person gallery exhibition in New York at the Martina Hamilton Gallery in 1983.

“Five Persons around Water Hole” by Odd Nerdrum; A part of the permanent collection at NOMA

With Glenn Vatshell at the helm, Palate New Orleans designed a one-of-a-kind menu and table scape for the dinner. Perrier Party Rental provided the amazing rentals to carry out the vision. Every single detail was an homage to Norway.

The first course was introduced with a plump oyster pickled with akvavit and served in caraway seed oyster shell with dill butter. A cucumber salad with fennel cream and caviar was dressed alongside it. Next to the oyster was Norwegian salmon cured with fresh dill served with dill mustard sauce on buttered black bread. Salted herring pickled with red onions and spices served on yukon gold potato with sour cream and a hard cooked egg topped the first course off.

Crisp white white accompanied.

For the second course, a Bergen Fish Soup emerged with seared cod served over julienne, carrot, celeriac and parsnip in a creamed fish broth and fresh dill. Following, the third course was exclusively a shaved frozen apple cider with champagne, an Eppler Granite.

Pork loin with marinated mustard, star anise, ginger and mustard roasted in pork belly served with giet ost sauce (Norwegian Goat Cheese) was the star dish. But not to forget the wonderful Norwegian love of fish, a seared monkfish was served in brown butter with egg dill sauce. Sides of boiled potatoes and rutabaga mashed with butter and cream, with red cabbage simmered with apple vinegar and honey spiced with fennel seed were served.

To top off the meal, a sparkling rosè complemented the plum baked in butter cake served with plum coulee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Dark coffee Demitasse was a must with the Tiske Shiver and Berlinerkranser (Norwegian Butter Cookies).

Every occasion is a special occasion with Palate New Orleans. To begin a conversation on how to work with us for your next event, head on over to the Contact Page.

From weddings to corporate events to “Animal House” themed 60th birthday parties, Palate New Orleans has planned it all! We had a great time reliving our college days while preparing for a special client’s birthday in Uptown, New Orleans.

Journeying up the very first steps of the house, each setting was an homage to the infamous National Lampoon’s “Animal House” (1978) starring John Belushi, Tim Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, and Donald Sutherland. The film is about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the authority of the dean of Faber College and the antics that follow.

No amount of effort was wasted to make this event feel like a serious throwback to a fraternity party.

Although the movie had the Omega Theta Pi and Delta Tau Chi houses, the movie was based on the Zeta Beta Tau’s which came directly from one of the writers’ experiences (see reference for the front of the Uptown house in the first picture above). Blow up dolls, toilet paper throws, bras hanging from ceilings, made each room and outdoor space a laughable and fun experience.

Down to the food spread and the lovely lady mannequin legs standing as a centerpiece on the buffet table, no detail was spared to bring the “Animal House” theme to life.

The menu consisted of your quintessential potato chips a la Fritos and cheese puffs (can’t forget the Dean’s Onion Dip and cheese wiz too!). A grilled and smoked andouille sausage complemented the cheese board but couldn’t be overdone by the tostada bar and hummus.

Warm spinach and artichoke dip led into vegetarian muffulettas and we feasted on Crawfish Monica, boiled shrimp and, to keep it somewhat balanced, had a nice chopped caesar salad on the side. Hot dogs in buns kept the mood light and we keep the food substantial as we slung sirloin sliders at a station. To top off the end of the night, doozies made an appearance!

Interested in starting the conversation for your next event? Contact us today by heading over to our Connect Page and submitting a form!

One of our favorite venues to plan weddings for in the city is @raceandreligious ! Intimate, historic and 100% romantic — 📸: @perlamartinezphotography #palateneworleans

“They’re like children. They need to stay with you a little bit before they leave you” -Glenn Vatshell about his creations — 📸: @randypschmidt #palateneworleans

When we say cheese, we meant a hunk of it. Change up your traditional house salads or caesar sides for a refreshed take on a pre-dinner course like this 👆— 📸: @randypschmidt #palateneworleans

Fridays mean another big weekend of events! A wedding, a birthday, a dinner party, a welcome-home shindig... there’s no event we haven’t coordinated, catered, designed, etc. From the behind-the-scenes details of torching figs to manifesting glorious wedding altars, there’s no task too small or large — 📸: @randypschmidt #palateneworleans